Annex 3: Comparisons with England & Wales and Northern
Ireland

7.26. Recorded crime statistics for England & Wales are not
directly comparable with those in Scotland. The recorded crime
statistics for Scotland are collected on the basis of the
SCRS,
which was introduced in 2004. Like its counterpart in England &
Wales, it aims to give consistency in crime recording.

The main principles of the
SCRS,
with regard to when a crime should be recorded, are similar to the
National
Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) for England & Wales.
However, there are various differences between the respective
Counting Rules which specify different approaches for counting the
number of crimes that should be recorded as a result of a single
incident.

For instance, crimes recorded in England & Wales tend to be
incident based, where the Principle Crime Rule states that if the
sequence of crimes in an incident, or a complex crime, contains
more than one type of crime, then the most serious crime should be
counted. For example, an incident where an intruder breaks into a
home and assaults the sole occupant would be recorded as two crimes
in Scotland, while in England & Wales it would be recorded as
one crime.

7.27. Differences in legislation and common law also have to be
taken into account when comparing the crime statistics for England
& Wales and Scotland.

7.29. The legal system in Northern Ireland is based on that of
England & Wales and the Police Service for Northern Ireland (
PSNI) has the
same notifiable offence list for recorded crime as used in England
& Wales. In addition, the
PSNI
has adopted the
NCRS
and
Home
Office Counting Rules for recorded crime that applies in
England & Wales. Thus, there are comparability considerations
similar to those detailed above between recorded crime statistics
for Northern Ireland and Scotland.